I am not the best dog trainer in the world. I have come a long way though. When I first started training my own dog I had no idea what I was doing and I actually made my dog's behavior worse in some ways. The only education I had was from watching tv, and that was about the worst education I could receive.

Over the past few years I worked very hard to further my knowledge. I read more books than I ever had. I went to training seminars. (And I continue to.) I worked with professional trainers. And most recently my wonderful girlfriend Kelly and I started working together which has really opened up my eyes even more on how to be a better trainer. I can now confidently say that we offer the best dog training services in our area.

With that being said, I feel that there are a lot of trainers out there that shouldn't currently be accepting money for their services. My opinion is based off of what I see in a lot of groups on Facebook. There are Facebook groups all over the place dedicated to positive training techniques. (Don't get me wrong, I really love the idea of it.) But occasionally I am scanning through these groups and I just see some of the worst advice from people that call themselves positive trainers. I remember once reading a person ask a question about how to get their dog to stop barking when people rang the doorbell to their house. The first comment I read was to counter conditioning every time someone came over. Well, this may be fantastic advice if the dog is barking because it doesn't like visitors. But what if the dog really loves visitors and it's barking out of excitement? Well, counterconditioning would then make the problem worse. We don't need the dog to associate the visitor with even more exciting stuff, right? When I read the comment I scrolled over the person's name and it said they owned their own dog training company. I instantly smacked the palm of my hand to my forehead and sighed audibly.

We need to do better than this. If we are going to hang out in Facebook groups and give advice, we need to ask more questions first. When I first got into dog training I put a lot of my eggs in the Facebook basket. I spent a lot of time answering questions for free. Thinking back I know I was guilty of giving answers prior to gathering all the information needed to give answers. Once again, I'm not perfect. No human is. But we can be better. If we want to really help people and their dogs in a humane way, we need to do better. I will be attending The Academy for Dog Trainers next year to help further my knowledge to be an even better trainer.

What to take away from this:-If you're a trainer, never stop trying to learn. Learning is awesome. That is why I am going to invest a lot of time and money in more education via the Academy.

-Consider trying to specialize in one area before trying to take it all on. There's nothing wrong with only working with puppies, or only working with fearful dogs for example. There is so much to know in any category and if you're just starting out, it's pretty difficult to be able to help with every dog issue.

-Know what the quadrants are. If you call yourself a dog trainer and can't define what the four quadrants of operant conditioning are, you really shouldn't be taking money.

-Know what Classical Conditioning is. Dogs are always building associations. You need to know how this affects the dog and how to help control how the conditioning takes place. If you're working with dogs that have negative associations with things, and you don't know what Counter Conditioning is, you're not doing the dog or the people that own the dog any justice and shouldn't be taking their money.

-If you're going to give advice in groups, great! Just make sure to gather a proper history prior to giving advice. The example I gave above is perfect. If the dog is actually just very excited that someone is at the door, Counter Conditioning will only make him more excited.

This post isn't meant to bring anyone down. This post is meant to inspire people. Be a better dog trainer. Never stop learning. We all love dogs, but love isn't enough when it comes to helping them with their issues. Having a solid education is the best way to help dogs stay with their families.

In closing, another big take away is that if you're not doing a great job as a positive trainer, you may unintentionally turn people away from humane training techniques because they feel that they don't work. This could send them over to the local traditional trainer who is still hanging around because people feel it's the best option. Let's be the best trainers we can be. Never stop learning. Don't take on a client who you don't think you can handle. And finally, get a formal education.

Definitely "Don't Shoot the Dog" by Karen Pryor, "Culture Clash" by Jean Donaldson to name a few. A new one that was written by a bunch of Vet Behaviorists is "Decoding Your Dog."

Reply

Janet

10/6/2015 09:16:53 pm

When I came across you I was very impressed with how you operate. I wish I knew you when I first got my boxer puppy who passed away last July. He was a hand full and you have helped me with my little doxie that barks a lot. The advice you have given me has helped. I feel teaching a dog to have good behavior is similar to teaching a toddler.

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Jane

10/7/2015 06:10:33 pm

Thank You Kevin for taking the palm of my own hand and smacking my own forehead. Thank you for reminding me to think about all of the issues that may be going own at the moment. I wish you were closer to where I live.

I do my best, traying to help dogs and people. Part of that, is being surrounded by whom you considerer could light your path. thanks for posting. keep the nice work as long as you want.

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Kasia

11/3/2015 03:29:02 am

"local traditional trainer who is still hanging around" wow... our local traditional trainer happened to take in 3 dogs (to foster/train until he can find them a home) that were recommended to be euthanized by positive trainers (three different cases from three different trainers) because they were deemed unattainable and unstable. All three were rehabilitated and are ready for adoption. Lucky for them..the traditional trainer was "still hanging around". It really upsets me when I see these people save/train dogs everyday but none of it matters. They are not all positive..therefore they are outdated evil dog abusers.

I was asked to come film the dogs so that a video would help get the word out and they were the sweetest ..happiest pits. It breaks my heart.
The training community would benefit more from uniting then being so divided and closed minded.

Reply

Kevin Duggan, CPDT-KA

11/3/2015 09:44:16 am

Truly understanding behavior and how using Positive Punishment and Negative Reinforcement can really affect dogs makes you see how there is no place for it in changing behavior. When these techniques are used in the name of training what you really see is behavior suppression. These dogs are suppressing their behavior because they're scared of their next correction. Conditioning takes place as the dog knows where the correction comes from which means the dog will develop a negative association with the human giving the correction which can also be generalized to all humans especially if what needed to be "rehabilitated" was fear aggression towards humans in the first place. Which means trainers that are using these these techniques are setting the dogs up to be ticking time bombs. There's no magic in hurting a dog.